Rose, off of crutches, will resume traveling in a couple of weeks

Rose is expected to begin traveling with the team in a couple of weeks

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Derrick Rose is finally off of crutches and expected to resume traveling with the team in the coming weeks.

Rose underwent surgery to repair a torn right medial meniscus on Nov. 25. He suffered the injury in the third quarter of the Bulls Nov. 22 loss in Portland against the Trail Blazers.

"He's coming along fine," coach Tom Thibodeau told reporters after Monday's shootaround. "He's off the crutches. He's doing more and more but he still has a long way to go. But he'll probably start traveling in the next couple weeks. He's doing great."

Rose was officially ruled out for the season by the team, but he did leave the door slightly open for a possible late season comeback, during his post-surgery press conference on Dec. 5 at the United Center.

“If I’m healthy and the situation is right, I’ll be back playing,” he said. “If I’m healthy and my meniscus is fully healed, of course I’ll be back out there playing. But if it’s something completely different and the outcome is not how I would want it to be, there’s no need.”

Making the chances of that return bleak are the fact that management is clearly looking beyond this season and focusing on retooling the team after trading away Luol Deng last Tuesday to the Cleveland Cavaliers for the contract of Andrew Bynum and future draft picks; a move that saves them over $20 million in salary and luxury taxes.

There is sure to be hoopla when Rose begins taking the floor to do court work, but it shouldn't reach the circus-level of last season when he sat out the entire season after not trusting his surgically-repaired left ACL.

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A Chicago native, Cason joined the Examiner in 2008 and has covered the Bulls since the 2009-10 season. While the NBA dream is gone, there's faint hope of securing a 10-day contract as a good locker room personality.